Haha, thanks mate. I definitely consider this the first film I was proud of making. It's pretty amazing to see the difference between the film I made immediately before this and THIS film. I made 3.5 films over the course of that year (fall semester '99 + spring '00)... and the difference between them all is insane.

"The Bet" (fall '99) - "If 'The Bet' is up against monkey porn for an Oscar, monkey porn wins." - review by a 2k'er.
"Kodomo" (fall '99) - forever unfinished (learned first rule of filmmaking - don't date your lead actress)
"Till Death Do Us Part" (spring '00) - won the award for best student production at the school
"Sex, Drugs & Natalie Portman" (spring '00)

That was the one you were going to call "Sex" where He wakes up as a She, right? I remember seeing it back in the day before "Drugs" but it's been a long while.

Yeah. Sorta. The original title was "Sex, Drugs & Natalie Portman" - and then it went and become an internet hit, so of course it had an eventual sequel, "Drugs". I'll get around to reposting this shit eventually. "Apocalypse, CA" was supposed to be "Natalie Portman"... which is why it combines story stuff from Sex and Drugs.

Yeah. Sorta. The original title was "Sex, Drugs & Natalie Portman" - and then it went and become an internet hit, so of course it had an eventual sequel, "Drugs". I'll get around to reposting this shit eventually. "Apocalypse, CA" was supposed to be "Natalie Portman"... which is why it combines story stuff from Sex and Drugs.

Don't ask. I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking.

I need to grab a DVD of Apocalypse CA to add to the collection. How do I go about purchasing a copy from you? I know I can stream it but I like tangible things taking up space in my library.

Yeah. Sorta. The original title was "Sex, Drugs & Natalie Portman" - and then it went and become an internet hit, so of course it had an eventual sequel, "Drugs". I'll get around to reposting this shit eventually. "Apocalypse, CA" was supposed to be "Natalie Portman"... which is why it combines story stuff from Sex and Drugs.

Don't ask. I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking.

I need to grab a DVD of Apocalypse CA to add to the collection. How do I go about purchasing a copy from you? I know I can stream it but I like tangible things taking up space in my library.

This is the first time I've heard 'Quaylar' in ages, I mused, and then the name 'Natalie' came along. Really having some fun with the names there, ha ha!

I liked the tough chick who played Natalie.

I liked what you did with light vs. shadow as the film went on. I think the first dialogue scene with the piss-yellow light in the 'normal' environment was giving you trouble but you found stuff to do once you could be more control of the lighting, stylizing it.

I think the use of "Love and Marriage" was a problem because our conception of that song was _already_ ironic, we know it as the "Married With Children" song where its meaning was already being corrupted. The point would have been stronger if you'd found another old song with those jolly sorts of lyrics.

I liked what you did with light vs. shadow as the film went on. I think the first dialogue scene with the piss-yellow light in the 'normal' environment was giving you trouble but you found stuff to do once you could be more control of the lighting, stylizing it.

haha, totally on purpose, btw. Wanted HER experience to be a soft and gentle intro into this violent world, and HIS experience to be like something out of "Brazil" or "1984".

When the first Project Greenlight came through in 2000, I actually turned this into a feature film script and made it about a social worker that has to "judge" these fights. My biggest mistake was taking the feature film concept too seriously, which only makes for something sick and dark as fuck. It'd probably work better as a dark comedy with Will Ferrell or something HAH.

btw, re: Quaylar. This is the first I used the name in any project. Bryan, of course, later took it from there and made it famous.